Clearing the Smoke: The Science Behind Cannabis

This is a very well presented documentary that was first shown on a Montana PBS channel. It is a valuable watch, especially for folks who maybe are neutral or slightly more leaning toward the prohibitionist viewpoint. It is science essentially. No hippies trying to push their peace and love on you. No burnouts saying “man” every third word. Just a bunch of doctors and scientists presenting their viewpoints leaving you to decide for yourself. But, since we do have opinions, here are a few of ours:

1) The medical benefits of cannabis are clearly demonstrated here through scientific study and patient experience. Yes, a doctor on this documentary sides with the opponents of marijuana, presenting the herb as dangerous. We can also find you doctors to support a lot of other false ideas. The point is, you have to weigh his statements against the evidence presented on the other side of the argument. For more on this topic, check out our article “Myth: Marijuana is Dangerous”.

2) Why should we have a higher opinion of a chemical, manmade drug than of a plant that has clearly evolved (or, to be fair, created, if that’s your bent) alongside us? We hope you paid close attention to that bit about the human endocannabinoid system, that is very important information. You have inside of you, like us all, a system of receptors that have been evolved/made (to receive the compounds that are naturally occurring in this plant. And they are located on the two main regulatory systems of your body – the brain and the immune system – helping to relieve, cure and event prevent diseases and disorders. So, the idea that people should be forced to run through the “full spectrum” of manmade, chemical pharmaceuticals (with a litany of possible side effects and, when compared to marijuana, only a tiny amount of historical data to draw from) at the doctor’s disposal before trying this natural herb you are tailor-made to interact with, that will bring instant and safe relief, is pure insanity in our view.

3) Whenever the federal medical marijuana program and patients come up you have to at least chuckle a little, right? So, the government continues to stand by the idea that marijuana does not have any medical applications (it is a schedule 1 drug under their estimation), and yet the government continues to grow and distribute medical marijuana to a handful of patients who qualified for the medical study. The point is, even though the program is no longer open for applicants, they continue to grow marijuana (using your money by the way) and then send government-rolled joints to people who are still alive and part of the program. That means that their studies showed that it worked – why else would they continue to do any of this. Hypocrisy yo.

4) The link between cannabis consumption and schizophrenia is tenuous at best. I suggest you go out and do some basic research on this. Don’t go to some drug rehab site, or any other organization that makes money off of a particular opinion. Find some good, unbiased study results and check it out. Here is a good article to get you started.

The bottom line is this is an accurate and thorough look at the issue of the medical efficacy of marijuana. If this were some plant in the rainforest that could relieve, treat and prevent all the different diseases, symptoms and syndromes that marijuana has shown to be effective in, we would be heralding it as the greatest medical discovery of our time. But because it is a plant that was stigmatized as evil and dangerous in order to satisfy corporate greed and government-control (Don’t believe us? Read our article on the prohibition of marijuana here.), the medical community is wary to really put it through the process of rigorous study simply because it is illegal and thus difficult to be involved with. Very few are willing to stick out their necks and endure the governmental nonsense that surrounds the issue. And that is the issue in our view. Think of what we could learn and treat and the people we could help if we really took a hard look at what cannabis can actually do for us. For a look at our reasons for repealing prohibition, read our article here.